[ih] History of Naming on The Internet - is it still relevant?

[John Kristoff]

On Sat, 19 Jul 2025 10:55:58 -0700
Jack Haverty via Internet-history <internet-history at elists.isoc.org>
wrote:

> So, my question is -- How has the Internet mechanisms for Naming
> evolved over the last 55 years, from the Users' perspective?   Is
> Naming even still relevant on The Internet?

I think for many domain names are becoming as abstract as IP addresses
grew to be.  In place of domain names you often see instead @acme
(referring to some entity on a set of social media sites) or a QR
code that contains an embedded URL.  Many of you in the U.S. have surely
seen the latter replacing printed menus in restaurants for example.

The mechanisms for DNS have changed quite significantly in the past few
years.  Two noticeable examples have been the introduction and
increasing use of qname minimization and DNS over HTTPS (DoH). This has
greatly altered who gets to see the full query (and their answers),
along with where control over the system can be exerted.

I think naming remains relevant, but the DNS is changing and naming
is evolving.  Lots of people seem to be having to pay less and less
attention to them, because the apps and UIs are changing. The
DNS portion of the From/To/Cc headers and web URL bars for example seem
to be increasingly hidden from an average user's consciousness.

John